


The Trouble You're In

by Ceewelsh



Category: Loaded March (Merlin Fanfic Series), Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Loaded March, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash, Queerplatonic Relationships, can be read as either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26198245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceewelsh/pseuds/Ceewelsh
Summary: Bran gets into trouble at school. Will and Kay are called in to speak to the headteacher.
Relationships: Kay (Arthurian)/Will (Merlin), Will Kendrick & Kay Lawhead, Will Kendrick & Kay Lawhead & Bran Killson, Will Kendrick/Kay Lawhead
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	The Trouble You're In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Excaliburstark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excaliburstark/gifts).
  * Inspired by [At the End We Begin Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4729046) by [Footloose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Footloose/pseuds/Footloose). 



> I am but Kay & Will & Bran trash.  
> Inspired by [Excaliburstark's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excaliburstark/pseuds/Excaliburstark) prompt _Killson fic where Bran has enrolled in some sort of college and has his first detention and how will and Kay react. Or just a general family dynamics study. Can be queer platonic idm_ in the [Loaded March Book Club discord](https://elirwen.tumblr.com/post/622928671341215744/loaded-march-book-club).  
> I'm not sure how well I stuck to the prompt, but I did it and that's what matters! Bran is [static] years old here. Somewhere between year 10 and year 13.

Kay pulled up on the road near the school. Experience told him that at this time the car park would be filling up with buses and parents aiming to make a quick getaway from the school and Kay didn’t want to get bogged down in that nonsense. As he walked up the path to the school, he saw Will’s car and noted he had done the same. Smiling slightly to himself, he checked his phone again to see if there had been an update.

Unluckily for him, there was no message waiting saying _only joking! No need to come to the school!_ To be fair, Bran had lasted a lot longer than Kay ever had. He’d made it almost to Easter before getting into enough trouble that they’d had to come in. Kay’s foster parents had usually gotten the call before the end of September.

He turned to walk up the path into the school building and literally walked into Will, who was skulking at the perimeter of the school. Kay had thought that he was looking awkward and uncomfortable, but it was nothing in comparison to how uncomfortable Will looked. It took everything in him not to burst out laughing right in Will’s face. Something must have shown though because Will glowered up at him.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Kay held up his hands in surrender and nudged Will with his shoulder to get them walking again. “But you alright?”

“Yeah, fine.” Will said, looking at the ground. “It’s stupid. I just. I hate this. I never got in trouble like this at school.”

Kay’s jaw dropped to the ground. Will _Refuses To Take Orders Unless He Has All The Information To Calculate_ Kendrick hadn’t ever had his dad called into school? That just seemed wrong. Will saw the look on his face and shoved him as they walked.

“Well, you know. Kids with good grades get away with more shit. Plus if I were ever in trouble, Merlin were right there with me and you know how people fawn over him.” Will said, rolling his eyes.

“And I bet he could have, like,” Kay wiggled his fingers, “if he needed to?”

Will barked out a laugh, sudden and unexpected. It loosened something in him and Kay was glad to see the Will he knew back again.

“Not bloody likely! Can you _imagine_ if Hunith found out? And she always did find out. Could spot a lie a mile away, that woman. I guess looking back it takes a liar to know one. We just used to think it was her own special brand of magic. Nah any issues, Merlin would just bat his eyes and the teachers would be falling over themselves to explain how this wasn’t his fault. So by extension it were never my fault either.” Will smirked.

They continued up to the doors of the school where bright garish lettering above the door declared it “Reception”. The receptionist looked up at them with a bored look and asked their names and gave them a form to sign in on.

“Ms Redford will be with you in a moment. Please take a seat.”

They sat down, and Kay tried really hard not to burst out laughing with the absurdity. They had faced down war, both normal and magical, they had faced dangers most people couldn’t even imagine. Yet here they were, squirming on the worn-out padding of the chairs waiting for the headteacher.  
The final bell rang and the wave of noise of students bustling out of classrooms to the lockers and buses overwhelmed Kay for a second. Crowds were a fact of life, but sometimes they reminded him of undead bodies and packs of wild dogs. He took a grounding breath and tried to concentrate on the here and now. Will put a hand on his wrist almost absentmindedly and started tapping a nonsense rhythm. It was one of many techniques they had established over the years to ground each other. Kay didn’t know when they had stopped needing to ask for it, but more often than not nowadays, Will was grounding him before he even realised he needed it. And he was sure he’d done the same for Will more than once.

Bran rounded the corner looking furious, and slammed his bag under a chair before flopping into it. It took a second for him to look up and notice Will and Kay there, mirrored expressions of raised eyebrows. Bran deflated, looking to the ground.

“I hoped they were bluffing about calling you.” He muttered.

“What happened?” Kay asked. Will crossed his arms, channeling a distinctly _Gaius_ look of disapproval. Before Bran could answer, the door to the headteacher’s office opened. Ms Redford called them in, and Kay felt Will gulp.

* * *

“So I have asked you to come in today to discuss some severe disruptions in Mr Naylor’s class today. Kay, would you like to explain please?” Ms Redford turned to Bran, now sat to the left of Will and Kay.

“Sorry but this is stupid.” Bran started and Kay closed his eyes. He felt Will stiffen next to him as he tried to hold himself together. At least he was aware enough to know that outright laughing wasn’t the best reaction.

“No, it is!” Bran insisted. “Mr Naylor was like ‘we’re going to do a debate today and the topic is _should same sex marriages be legal_ ’ and so I asked if we could do literally any other topic because one like sorry are we still debating this? It’s legal here and it should be like what the hell? And two like how are we going to learn to debate well if we’re doing topics that have an actual yes/no answer. Like pineapple on pizza that’s a debate. Should people be oppressed isn’t a debate, you know?  
"But Mr Naylor said no and so people were preparing and then we’re having this debate and Natalie is saying that being gay isn’t natural and I was like _you literally dye your hair and you’re arguing not natural?_ Anyway long story short I called Mr Naylor a bigot and yelled at three kids in my class for being homophobic.”

There was a pause, as Will and Kay turned to look at Ms Redford in unison.

“I can see how that must have been difficult, particularly given your two dads, but this kind of behaviour in the classroom is just unacceptable.” Ms Redford said. “Mrs Goldie said she had to come into the classroom because you were disturbing her GCSE practice exam next door. And Georgina has been crying because of what you said to her. The typical punishment for this kind of behaviour is in-school suspension. This means that Bran will come to school, but will be in isolated study and so will get the work from his classes, but will not be participating in them.”

Kay and Will exchanged a look and stayed silent. It was much shorter to let people assume than to say _Well actually, people assume we’re gay a lot, but we’re not together. But we still care a lot about these issues because we have a lot of friends who are gay/bi/whatever. And yes, we are raising Bran together. And okay neither of us have been on a date in a while but that’s getting off track..._

“And what punishment are the other children getting?” Will asked, staring straight at Ms Redford. Bran glared at him for the insinuation he was a child, but kept quiet anyway. Ms Redford paused.

“The... other children?”

“Yes. The ones spouting homophobic nonsense in the class? What punishment are they getting?” Will kept his expression blank with a hint of question and Kay struggled not to let his smile show. Ms Redford paled.

“I- Well. You see. It was a debate. So they were arguing things they might not agree with. I’m not sure _homophobic_ is quite how I would describe this. And as I said, Georgina Nichols has been quite inconsolable.” She was close to breaking down completely, Kay could see it. He could see her realising quite easily Will was going to tear her apart without even raising his voice. Will reminded him a lot of Merlin in moments like those, or maybe Merlin had always been like Will.

“I told Georgina Nichols that she couldn’t just start crying every time she was called out, and she started crying! That just proves my point!” Bran exclaimed, looking equal parts mad and exasperated.

Will held up a hand to stop his protestations, not looking away from Ms Redford at all. Kay always found the lack of blinking creepy. Gwaine was able to go without blinking for a long time too. He wasn’t sure if it was a sniper skill, or just because the two of them were stubborn as mules.

“Homophobic rhetoric was allowed to continue in a classroom in your school.” Will began cooly. “Either the students were speaking of their own volition, in which case they should be punished, or they were forced to speak in ways they didn’t believe to avoid getting into trouble in Mr Naylor’s class, in which case I would like to speak to Mr Naylor. I assume you would agree that the use of ‘ _unnatural_ ’ to describe homosexuality would count as hostility towards persons who are of a particular sexual orientation?”

Ms Redford froze but Will didn’t give her chance to respond.

“Now I’m sure that we can agree that Kay and I are going to sufficiently deal with the _way_ in which Bran spoke and therefore there will be no need for him to serve more than one lunchtime detention for his speaking out of turn.” Will’s voice was so calm and even that it sent a chill up Kay’s spine. One look at Ms Redford said that she felt it too. “I expect that we will have word on how the other children and Mr Naylor have been disciplined. If not, well, I’m sure Mickey O’Reilly would love to be the one to break this scandal to your governors.” 

“Sc-scandal? Mr Law- I mean, Mr Kendrick, I assure you that this isn’t anything as severe as that! There is no need to threaten media attention. I will speak to the others. Bran, you will serve lunchtime detention tomorrow and Friday. On Monday I will get a letter to you during form-time to give to your fathers about the proceedings from here on out.”

They were dismissed quite thoroughly then, and Kay had to fight the urge to sprint out of the school as fast as he could. He couldn’t stop looking at Will in awe, although he tried to hide it as best he could. Bran had none of his reservations and was beaming at Will.

“That was bloody brilliant! Did you see her face? Will, that was epic!” Bran enthused. Kay couldn’t help but grin. Bran was more likely to exaggeratedly tell them how awful they were than to straight out compliment them, and he could see the flush building on Will’s face at the outright praise. Good. Will deserved some proper praise now and then.

“We still need to talk about this, Bran.” Will warned. “God, haven’t we taught you how to get away with things?” 

“You’ve taught me something?” Bran asked cheekily, and Will swiped at him. The two of them started tearing off down the street and Kay just watched, smiling. The warmth that always came from watching Will and Bran was blossoming in his chest. A warmth that felt a lot like home.


End file.
